


A recipe for love

by Vlamelot



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Chef Merlin, F/M, First Kiss, Fluff, Manager Gwen, Nightmare, Nightmares, gwen has a nightmare, gwen is merlins boss, gwen owns a restaurant, gwen&merlin, gwen/merlin - Freeform, merlin&gwen, merlin/gwen - Freeform, restaurant, soft merlin
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-01
Updated: 2020-03-01
Packaged: 2021-02-27 21:15:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,982
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22972363
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vlamelot/pseuds/Vlamelot
Summary: “Hi, I’m here to show myself. I saw the advertisement in the paper this morning and I would love to work here as chef.” He said without even telling his name. It made the woman laugh, and Merlin noticed how pretty her smile was.“Come in, you’re facing the right person. I’m Gwen, I am the owner of the restaurant.” She held out her hand, and Merlin shook it with slight tremble.“I’m Merlin,” he said, suddenly very nervous about the conversation he was going to have.
Relationships: Gwen & Merlin (Merlin), Gwen/Merlin (Merlin)
Comments: 6
Kudos: 16





	A recipe for love

**Author's Note:**

  * For [My friend Mariam](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=My+friend+Mariam).



> also,, : Thanks for helping me Luna! You've put so much time in helping me with this fic, ily <3

A recipe for love

Merlin was cooking dinner for himself in his apartment. It had been a long day of sitting in front of a laptop, and by now he was pretty tired of blogging about the Painted Dogs in Africa, and to hear any more whining from his boss. The minute he got home; he went to the kitchen, which was a little bit too big for such a small apartment. He played his favourite cd, Twenty One Pilots, and he sang along with the lyrics while getting all the ingredients. Cooking was his greatest passion, every night he would try to make a different dish. Always experimenting with different flavours, always trying to make it tastier. When the dish was ready, he would carefully place it on a plate. Decorating it with herbs, nuts or sauce. 

“Well, I must say; I’m good!” he said to himself, smiling wide. After finding the best lighting and angle, he took a picture. He had always dreamed about being a chef and owning his own restaurant. When he started eating his dinner, he read the newspaper. It always had so many bad things in it, always about what’s wrong in the world. But when he turned to page 14, he saw something that could change his life.

>Wanted  
Chef with passion, dedication  
and a will to work hard.  
Certificate not required<

There was a phone number with it, but he decided to go to the restaurant as soon as it would open. He’d never been so excited in the morning as he was now. Merlin didn’t know the restaurant, but he recognised the street name when he searched for it on Google. It wasn’t that far away; he would be able to cycle everyday if he had to, it would so be worth it. 

-

It was 4pm and that would mean the restaurant could open any minute now. Merlin was already waiting at the front door. This was what he wanted, becoming a chef. Making people happy with the food he prepared for them. It wasn’t a big restaurant. 

When the door opened, a beautiful woman said him hello. She was not too tall, had beautiful curly hair and the light blue shirt went so good with her flawless brown skin. 

“Hi, I’m here to show myself. I saw the advertisement in the paper this morning and I would love to work here as chef.” He said without even telling his name. It made the woman laugh, and Merlin noticed how pretty her smile was. 

“Come in, you’re facing the right person. I’m Gwen, I am the owner of the restaurant.” She held out her hand, and Merlin shook it with slight tremble.

“I’m Merlin,” he said, suddenly very nervous about the conversation he was going to have. 

“Please, Merlin, sit down. Tell me about your experiences as chef.” Gwen grabbed a notepad and a pen from behind the bar. 

“Eeh, actually I am not a professional chef. I write and narrate for nature documentaries. But I’ve always had a great passion for cooking. At home, I always try to make the best of it. My dream is to have my own restaurant one day.” He smiled. The ‘certificate not required’ in the paper made him comfortable enough to tell the truth. 

“Oh, well. I didn’t see that coming. Do you maybe have pictures of what you make at home?” Gwen hadn’t written anything down yet, she just listened to what Merlin had to say. 

“Yes, I do!” Merlin took his phone and showed her the meals he made often. He had loads of pictures. Every meal that turned out as he had planned, needed to be photographed. While Merlin was proudly scrolling through his pictures, Gwen didn’t say a word, but only watched with big eyes. 

“So, how many days would you be able to work?” 

“Any day, actually. I’d love to have 2 free evenings in the week so I can have friends and family over, they always like it when I cook dinner. But apart from that I’ll be able to work the rest of the week.” There was a silence. Gwen looked down at her blank paper, and her knuckles that went white from holding the pen so tightly. 

“Eeh, okay. Well, I will talk about it with my colleagues, and I will give you a call about it. Within a week you’ll hear from us. Is that alright?” Merlin nodded and wrote down his phone number. After a bit of chatting, a cup of tea and a few laughs, it was time for Merlin to go home. 

-

It’d been 5 days since he went to the restaurant for the solicitation, and he hadn’t heard anything yet since. It made him nervous. He couldn’t even concentrate on making a proper meal anymore. He had made this dish so many times, yet it turned out to be a disaster now. Why were they taking so long to call him back? Would there be so many others that they forgot about him? 

There was a noise at the door. “A letter? But I gave them my phone number, not my address,” Merlin mumbled in confusion. It was an invitation from the restaurant to come over and make a meal for them. Merlin was confused but definitely not complaining. Grinning from ear to ear, he immediately made himself ready so he would be in time to cook there today.

-

When he arrived at the restaurant, Gwen was just opening. He waved, she smiled. He locked his bike and walked up to her. 

“Hi, I came as soon as I could. I, I just don’t understand how you got my address?” He asked a little quiet. Gwen didn’t answer his question, she blushed a little but told him where to leave his jacket. 

“Do you have an apron?”

“Oh, no I don’t…” He looked down in embarrassment, cheeks turning red. 

“That’s okay, we have extras.” Gwen took one from the cabin where they kept the aprons and gave it to Merlin.  
“We want you to cook a meal. It doesn’t really matter what you cook. Just make sure it tastes good, it looks good and that it doesn’t take too long. In the end we want to keep the costumers as happy as possible!” She smiled.

“That shouldn’t be too difficult!” Merlin laughed. He looked around and took everything he needed. Gwen was sitting in the restaurant, along with 2 staff people. One other chef and one waitress. 

-

After cooking, tasting and finally signing a contract, Merlin officially was chef of Gwen’s restaurant. Four days a week he would work in the kitchen. One day a week he would be the other chefs help, and two days he was free. 

Weeks passed by; and slowly he got used to his new life. The restaurant was thriving, and him alongside it: in the first three months he had been able to introduce four new meals on the menu, all with great success. Such a great success even, that Gwen after five months decided him to be second manager. He also enjoyed being around Gwen that much, and the two of them became friends. In the weekends when they were both free, they would often hang out together. Watching films, playing boardgames, watching the documentaries Merlin made and a lot of talking. They laughed together and sometimes cried together. Playing boardgames meant that Gwen would always win, except for monopoly. Watching the nature documentaries made Merlin a little bit grumpy. He didn’t like to hear his own voice and he was way prouder of his food arts. But Gwen loved the animals and pretty landscapes, so they watched them anyways.

-

One evening, after knowing each other for over a year, Gwen called Merlin in the middle of the night. 

“Gwen? Are you alright?” Merlin’s voice was worried.

“Me- Mer-“ Gwen cried, and couldn’t get any word out. “Merlin, I-“ 

“Gwen?! Do you need me to pick you up?!” He was already standing next to his bed. 

“Y- Yes, pl- plea- please!” She hung up. And as fast as Merlin could, he put on his shoes and jacket. He only had a bike, so it would take him 20 minutes to get to Gwen. The only thing he hoped for was that she wouldn’t be in danger. The good thing was that it was night and no one was on the streets, he cycled through red light and took the shortest way, even if that meant risking an amercement. 20 minutes had never felt so long. But finally he arrived at Gwen’s place. 

“Gwen?” He knocked on the door. “Gwen?!” He knocked again, more hurriedly. There were no lights on, and there was no noise coming from inside. Just when Merlin was about to walk away, the door opened. The crying woman fell in Merlin’s arms. 

“Hey, it’s okay, I’m here now,” he whispered as he held her tight. He took her inside, leading her to the couch, where they sat down. “What’s wrong Gwen?” 

She curled up in his arms, trying to calm down a bit, as Merlin hugged her tight.

“I- there…” She was still way to freaked out to answer. 

“Sssh, take deep breaths Gwen, take your time to calm down.” His voice was soft. He cared about Gwen a great deal. When she at last calmed down a little, she took her chance to tell him she suffers from nightmares. 

“I haven’t had one in a long time, so I thought I could stop with the medicine I’m taking for it.” She sniffed. “Turns out that wasn’t a good idea…” Gwen paused, “I know it sounds dumb…” she whispered almost too quiet for Merlin to hear. 

“Oh Gwen, you can’t just stop medicines! Next time try to call a doctor first to ask if it’s alright okay?” Merlin’s voice was sweet and tender. Gwen let her shoulders down in obvious relief and moved a little closer to Merlin. He holds her, caressing her arm and resting his head on hers.

“Can you tell me what the nightmare was about?” he asks gently. Gwen turned a little red, she hoped he couldn’t see, but he did. 

“Something bad happened…” she whispered. 

“What happened Gwen?” Merlin waited patiently for an answer. 

“The restaurant… It was on fire… and, you- you-“ She started crying again, and the sentence trailed off into sobs. 

“Take your time Gwen, no rush in telling me.” He hugged her tight, trying to comfort her.

“You were still in there… In the fire, and you couldn’t get out and no one was going to save you and I, I couldn’t move, Merlin I couldn’t move I couldn’t save you!” Merlin swallowed, it felt real to Gwen. 

“Shhh, it’s alright now, it was just a bad dream. I’m here and the restaurant is fine. I promise.” 

After at least 40 minutes of cuddling and trying to make Gwen calm down, Merlin was the one to speak.

“Gwen?” He looked down at her. Seeing her like this, curled up in his arms, made him feel something he never had before. His heart beaded faster, it felt overwhelming, but also lovely. Something he wanted to keep close and cherish, but for now he chooses to ignore it. 

“Yes?” 

“Are you well enough to sit on my bike with me?” 

“I think so…” Her eyes were still teary, and her voice cracked a little from crying. She put on something warm over her pyjama’s and tried to tie her shoes. Merlin looked at her, feeling like he must take care of her. He saw Gwen struggling with the shoelaces and helped her. 

When Gwen was ready, they got on the bike. Gwen sat in the middle, between Merlin and the handlebar. With one hand he drove the bike, with the other he held Gwen against him. She was tired and the bike’s sudden movements made it easy to tumble off. He felt responsible for Gwen, but there was something more, and he couldn’t really tell what it was…

-

The next morning Gwen woke up in a bed she didn’t recognize. She looked around and saw her hoodie, she took it and got out of bed. She could barely remember what happened and how she got here in this strange house. Footsteps approached…

“Gwen, you’re awake. Good, I just made breakfast.” He smiled at her kindly, walking back to the living room. 

“Merlin...? What happened?” Gwen asked quietly, trailing after him.

“You can’t remember? Well, you called me up last night, you sounded panicked, so I came over to your house. You cried a lot and told me you had a nightmare…” He paused, “I didn’t want to leave you alone, so I took you with me on my bike and you slept in my bed.” 

“But… Where did you sleep?” She asked worried. 

“Oh, I slept on the couch, not a big deal. I just wanted you to be comfortable.” He smiled but Gwen also saw his cheeks redden. “Please, sit down. Breakfast is ready.” Suddenly she felt nervous. Merlin really showed off with his breakfast, everything was fresh. He made his own bread and there was lots of fruit. Merlin had covered the table with small bowls of grapes, strawberries, apple and even small pieces of melon. The homemade bread smelled amazing. There was also yoghurt which Merlin decorated with some fruit, bread crumbles and a smiley face from syrup. Gwen didn’t know where to look nor where to start. 

Today was a free day for both. They decided to spend it together as Gwen could use some distraction and Merlin some company. Of course, they watched an episode of Merlins documentary and while Gwen was trying to draw one of the animals, Merlin made her an amazing lunch. After lunch they played a few boardgames and when it was finally time to have dinner, they decided to order pizza. They ended the day with watching a movie, sitting on the couch in each other’s arms. Gwen laughed and really paid attention to the film, while Merlin on the other hand, had more eyes for Gwen. His thoughts were racing, but his heart was calm. He felt so good when he was with her, like she was the only one where he could be himself. As if she was the only one who didn’t have great expectations but just simply liked him the way he is. Suddenly Gwen looked up. 

“What is it Merlin?” She asked, giggling.

“Oh, nothing. There’s nothing. I was just thinking.” His cheeks flared up, and he looked away. 

“What were you thinking about?” she asks. Merlin looked down at Gwen, slightly blushing. He grinned, trying to come up with an excuse she would believe, not breaking their eye contact. 

“It’s just, I want to own a restaurant…” He said fast, trying to avoid his thoughts and feelings. Gwen was a bit disappointed but tried not to let Merlin notice. 

“You’re joking…” Gwen laughed. 

He looked confused, “What? I’m not!” Now Gwen laughed even harder. 

“You already do, silly! Or did you forget I made you second manager half a year back?” She spotted. Merlin turned bright red now, not knowing what to say. 

“Tell me Merlin, what’s on your mind?” She asked a little more serious. They stared in each other’s eyes. Seconds felt like hours, neither of them said a word. Eventually Gwen smiled a little nervous, Merlin smiled back. 

“You...” He whispered and he looked away, a little embarrassed. They were co-workers, friends, nothing more than that. 

“Merlin?” She reached up to touch his face with one hand. “Merlin look at me, please…” As soon as Merlin was facing Gwen again, she smiled at him. 

“In what way am I on your mind?” 

“Nothing… It can’t be, it just can’t be…” 

“What can’t be? Merlin please tell me?” By now she started to get a bit worried. 

“You… Me… We’re, co-workers, we’re friends…” He looked away again, his eyes teared up. He wanted to be with Gwen, spend more nights with her. Make her breakfast, lunch and dinner. Just, be together. 

“I think… I think we could be more than, ‘just friends’…” It took all her courage to say that, but she had to, because she loved him. “Please look at me?” Gwen whispered softly. He turned, his eyes meeting hers. She held him closer and tighter than before, he could tell. He could also tell that it was clear she was less nervous than him. Gwen smiled again, her hand now in his hair at the back of his head. 

“We can...?” He asked unsure, whispering. Gwen smiled, nodded softly and slowly leaned in. Merlin didn’t move till their lips touched. That was the moment he relaxed, the moment he realized Gwen felt the same. It was the moment he slowly kissed back. He’d never kissed someone before but tried to hide that. He pulled Gwen closer, his arms around her. Gwen moved a bit and sat on his lap. They broke the kiss. Merlin smiled nervously and Gwen giggled, “I love you.” She gave Merlin a soft short kiss. “I love you too Gwen.” Merlin whispered and leaned in again. The kiss deepened this time, and they ended up laying arm in arm on the couch. Gwen had fallen asleep; the movie had ended but when? No one knows. 

He stood up and took the sleeping Gwen to his bedroom. Before joining her in his own bed, he prepared a hot bottle. It was going to be a cold night. Once he had the hot bottle ready, he got into the bed. The hot bottle against Gwen’s belly to keep her warm, Merlin’s hand around her. He smiled, gave her a kiss on her head. 

“Goodnight, love,” he whispered. Not much later, they were both asleep.


End file.
